By spring, the Shimerdas are living in their new log house, which the neighbors helped build. When Jim rides over to see them, Mrs. Shimerda questions him about what the men are doing in the fields; she thinks they’re withholding valuable farming secrets from her family.
Jim is amazed at the change in Ántonia over the last eight months; although she’s just turned fifteen, she seems much older. She works like a man in the fields, and Jim feels that she has lost all her refinement. She is proud of her ability to work like a man and tells Jim that she can’t start school when the new term begins because she’s needed on the farm. Again she talks about how educated her father was and pleads with Jim not to forget him. She asks Jim to tell her about everything he is learning in school. Later, Jim regrets staying for supper because the family seems sordid and materialistic—Ántonia has become coarse; Mrs. Shimerda, suspicious and ungrateful; and Ambrosch, deceitful.
Jim and Jake ride over to the Shimerdas to retrieve a horse collar Ambrosch borrowed from Grandfather. Hesitant at first, Ambrosch finally goes to the stable and returns with a horse collar that looks as if it has been gnawed by rats. Jake loses his temper, which causes Ambrosch to try to kick him in the stomach. Jake punches him, and Ambrosch falls down, stunned. When they see Ántonia and her mother running toward them, clawing the air, they mount their horses and ride away. On Grandfather Burden’s advice, Jake goes into town, reports the incident to the justice of the peace, and pays his fine so that the Shimerdas’ can’t have Jake arrested. Relations between the two families become strained. Grandfather, however, remains neutral, continuing to help the Shimerdas, and Ántonia and Ambrosch continue to treat him with respect.
One day, Grandfather decides to heal the rift and rides over with Jim to ask Ántonia to help Grandmother in the kitchen during the harvesting of the small grain crops. Mrs. Shimerda thinks he’s coming to take back the cow that hasn’t been completely paid for, but Grandfather tells her she can keep the cow and pay no more. The friendship is repaired, although Mrs. Shimerda remains boastful and taunting, even when she brings Jake a pair of hand-knitted socks as a peace offering.
